Council work sessions now regular meetings

The Lacey City Council holds its regular meetings the Second and Fourth Thursdays of each month except in November and December when the meetings are on the First and Third Thursdays.  

These meeting dates are set in the Lacey Municipal Code.   That means that the State Open Meetings Act applies.   Residents can come and address the council on any matter and all activities at the meetings are open for public review.

But, the council also schedules “work sessions” on the alternate Thursdays.   At these work sessions the council can only take action on items on the schedule and cannot take action on anything outside of the agreed upon agenda.

Thursday evening, the Lacey City Council approved placing “work sessions” in the city’s municipal code.   That means that the council can take action on any item and not just those on the agenda.   It also means that residents can come and have their input into city business.

Lacey City Attorney Ken Ahlf said that the work sessions would still be work sessions but will be considered regular meetings for the purpose of the Open Public Meetings Act.

“You’ve always been able to take action at the work session on any item on the agenda,” Ahlf told the council.  He went on to say that he didn’t feel the council would abuse the new action and that critical items would not be addressed at work sessions.